Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to virtual world management over a computer communications network and more particularly to term usage in a virtual world.
Description of the Related Art
As the progenitor to the modern virtual world, the multi-user dungeon provided a revolutionary experience for its first participants more than three decades ago. The multi-user dungeon was and continues to be a multi-player computer game that combines elements of role-playing, first person shooter and social chat. The multi-user dungeon generally executes in a central server configured for simultaneous access by participants over a global computer communications network like the Internet. The multi-user dungeon historically has been text-driven where the immediate environment is presented to participants in text form, and participants engage in actions in the environment through textual directives mimicking the postings of an instant messenger. Non-player characters in the multi-user dungeon can be automated and the actions of the non-player characters can be broadcast to the participants also as textual postings.
Like a multi-user dungeon, virtual reality allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment; however in virtual reality, the virtual environment is visual in nature and can be displayed either on a computer screen or through customized or stereoscopic displays. Advanced modes of virtual reality further incorporate other sensory presentation elements, including audio elements and tactile elements. Generally, end-users interact with a virtual reality environment through traditional keyboard and mouse movements, though other input means are provided occasionally including gyroscopic handheld devices and gloves, and joysticks. Consistent throughout all virtual reality experiences, the virtual reality environment reflects the real world environment and has proven invaluable in commercial applications such as flight simulation or combat training.
The virtual world builds upon the multi-user dungeon and virtual reality in order to provide a computer-based simulated environment in which participants interact with one another through three-dimensional visually displayable surrogates referred to as avatars. In this regard, participants “inhabit” the virtual world through their respective avatars. In as much as avators can freely roam the bounds of the virtual world, virtual worlds expand the boundaries of the multi-user dungeon and permit participants to truly enjoy freedom of motion and exploration within the virtual world. To date, virtual worlds have become such close approximations to reality that the lines of reality have become blurred to the extent that many participants treat ordinary interactions in the virtual world with the same degree of seriousness as those same interactions in the real world.
The virtual world mimics real life where different groups of people converge in a location to form an organizational relationship revolving around a particular interest, for instance familial interests, industrial interests, hobby interests, or religious interests to name a few. Each organizational relationship, as it will be understood, demonstrates a specific organizational culture. Jargon is an aspect of any organizational culture in that terminology common to the organizational culture may also be unique to that organizational culture, but foreign to those not involved in the organizational culture.
A common example is that of the corporate environment where terms commonly used in the corporate environment may be terms only familiar to those belonging to the corporate environment—especially in the case of often used acronyms within the corporate environment. In the context of the virtual world, the problem is the same. Unfamiliar participants to a location in virtual world specific to a particular organization likely will encounter jargon readily understood only by those familiar with the organizational relationship central to the location. As such, communication and especially comprehension of communication within the location of the virtual world can be inhibited leaving the unfamiliar participants puzzled as to the use of specific acronyms or other jargon within the location.